Wednesday, October 31, 2012

I've been quite busy studying for midterms and will be for the next week, so sorry for the long absence. I've taken a break from studies however to try out a new look to the blog.

I've tried to make the right hand column more useful and accessible and made several major cosmetic changes to make it less...well...meh. I would like to think that words have more utility than imagery, but I also realize that presentation is equally important.

So, let me know how you like (or don't like) the new look and feel free to offer up any suggestions in the comments.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better. [...] We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.

Monday, October 29, 2012

The Obama and Romney campaigns have cancelled or changed 20 events between them due to the storm and safety concerns, sacrificing critical face-time with voters in the home stretch. Obama had also planned to continue today to Youngstown, Ohio, and to northern Virginia, but both events were previously cancelled.

Both campaigns have also halted fundraising e-mails in states in the storm’s path.

So finally we have found something that can slow down the 2-year long campaign season, a Category-1 Snor'estercane.

Monday, October 22, 2012

My recent post on Blasphemy Day got a lot of hits and very good feedback. Since then I came across a great quote from Christopher Hitchens that reminds us that defending unpopular speech (like blasphemy) is crucial to maintaining our freedom.

"Indeed, as John Stuart Mill said, if all in society were agreed on the truth and beauty and value of one proposition, all except one person, it would be most important, in fact it would become even more important, that that one heretic be heard, because we would still benefit from his perhaps outrageous or appalling view."-Christopher Hitchens

Sunday, October 7, 2012

For the most part I wasn't surprised: Democrats aren't courting secularists, atheists, or non-theists despite the overwhelming. No big surprise there, especially considering the whole God in the platform issue at the convention.

The thing that shocked and scared me about this story was this chart. Up til now every statistic about my generation has been encouraging: increased openness, highest acceptance of LGBT people and issues, least racist, least sexist, and most atheists by percentage.

Then I see that 64% would be uncomfortable with a Muslim president, and I realize that a very horrible type of prejudice has made it through whatever barrier has set us apart.

1. An extreme religious group is persecuting a relatively peaceful religious group and destroying lives and beautiful temples.

I would add "for no good reason" but there can be no justification for such actions. The rioters were reportedly responding to a Facebook picture where a Buddhist boy was accidentally tagged with a burnt Quran. I don't care if he was hanging an anatomically accurate nude replica of Muhammad on a cross made out of bacon! There is no picture that can justify what happened today.

My outrage over this attack knows no bounds.

2. The only thing that pisses me off more is that it will fuel outrage against Islam as a whole and perpetuate this cycle of violence.

This should serve to remind us that radical Muslims do exist in reasonably large numbers, but also that most Muslims had nothing to do with the attack. I'm angry that Muslims and people who look like Muslims will be looked down upon and equated with these thugs. Muslims have to deal with enough hate every day without things like this happening, and the more hate they feel from us in the west the more the ranks of the extremists swell.

If you are a Muslim, please speak out vocally about this. And if you're not, then for the love of whatever you find holy don't blame all Muslims for it. They've been through enough.

Much of the current blasphemy law controversy centers around blasphemy against Islam, such as depicting Muhammad or burning a Koran. So when I came across this story about a Muslim Preacher charged with blasphemy in Egypt against Christianity I was intrigued.

"That man who burned the Holy Koran, Terry Jones, is protected in the United States, yet I, an icon of this nation am accused of blasphemy against religion."

Yes, exactly. Terry Jones should be protected, and Ahmed Abdallah should be as well. It's not clear to me though whether that is what Abdallah meant. His tone seems to suggest that Terry Jones should be the one charged with blasphemy, not him. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt here, but the tone is unsettling.